I need a pickle crock because I plan on making sweet pickles. And Priscilla has one and I don't, therefore, I must have one. I guess I'll have to go borrow hers. I think I'll use mine for making brandied peaches or maybe super small batch of refrigerator bread and butter pickles. Now those are fantastic. And really easy, too.
48 Hour Bread and Butter Pickles
3Cups vinegar
3 cups sugar
1/2 Cup uniodized salt
1 large onion, sliced
1 T mustard seed
1 tsp tumeric
pickling cukes
Layer onion and cukes in a 1 gallon glass jar (or several smaller ones), mix rest of ingredients and pour over. Ready to eat in 48 hours Keeps in refrigerator for 1 year.
I serve these as a side with sandwiches all the time. Guests have been amazed by them. They are unexpectedly good and no one makes bread and butter pickles anymore. Plus the ones from the grocery store are disgusting, which is why most people say they don't like bread and butter pickles. If you just go ahead and take my advice and make them, you'll be so surprised by how good they are you'll want to come to my house to thank me personally. Feel free to.
For my sweet pickles I use the recipe in the Ball Blue Book of Canning. Go buy it, it's like six bucks on Amazon. It has lots of good info for anyone new to canning. The sweet pickles will be ready in five days. Leave a comment for a chance to win a jar. If you live outside of Rochester, I'll mail them to you. I'll count the comments and enter them number into random.org and let it pick. Comment by next Friday.
8 comments:
I seriously doubt mailing pickles to me is a good idea, but I had to comment anyway - my middle son, the Artist (who idolizes Jamie Oliver), has been asking to make pickles. Seriously. I've looked at recipes/directions, but now I know we have one that will work. I'll set to finding him the ingredients and a gallon sized glass jar; even at that it is likely to be cheaper than buying them here (the pickles, that is).
One question -- how do I know what a pickling cuke is??? just teeny-tiny regular cukes? Or is there really a special kind...??? Can we use big ones and cut them up????
Is this a project better left until we are back in the US...?
Reader: What's the worst that could happen? They don't make it. We'll see how it goes..
But, yes, you need to use some smaller type of cucumber. I think you should be okay if you can find a gherkin or a kirby or even just anything other than a horrible watery supermarket cuke. I'm betting you can find something that will do. And quart mason jars will work fine if you can't find a gallon sized jar.
I took a course in canning and the biggest thing it did was scare the heck out of me when it came to canning! I have all the supplies but none of the courage. Hope your pickles work out well.
@Tracy: I once called the local canning help line to ask about how long to process the onion confit I had made; it was so delicious I wanted to give it as gifts. They became highly alarmed and refused to give me any useful information. I have been canning for years. If you use recipes from reliable sources and process for long enough, you will be fine. (I also only do jams and high acid foods; I agree that the thought of canning low-acid foods scares the bejeesus out of me, too.) I know you have access to lots of veggies- if you ever get up the courage, let me know, we can have a party!
So... how did the pickle canning go? I have been interested in doing this for years, until I came across the salt brine ferment followed by canning. But your fridge recipe sounds more like my leisurely style. :-)
Very Interesting!
Thank You!
Thanks for sharing the recipe! It looks simple enough that I might just have to try it! I LOVE pickles, and while I don't mind store bought bread & butters, I've had homemade before, and they are arguably MUCH better...I just never realized how truly simple they would be to make!
-Merideth
www.mommyiscrafty.com
Gosh, I didn't realize until it was too late that my mom must have stayed logged in to her blogger account last time she was here...so I just commented under her name! The last comment was really from me! :)
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